Connecting the dots, it appears that INF Josh Fields, who went 3-4 and was a HR away from the cycle tonight in a 14-5 IronPigs win, and not Darin Ruf will get the call if/when Ryan Howard heads to the DL. Fields entered today’s game with a .272/.340/.457 triple-slash and undoubtedly raised that tonight with an outstanding night.

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In staying with factual information, Howard received a cortisone shot for an inflamed knee after an MRI exam. He is listed as day to day. If he continues to have soreness, then and only then would there be a reevaluation including the possibility of going on the DL.

If and when the possibility of DL exists, there is a good chance that Darin Ruf will be called up.

What has Ruf proven? He had one great season in AA playing against kids who are on average 4 or 5 years younger than he is. He had a hot September in a very small # of AB’s, but if the FO put a lot of stock in his September, he would have been on the Opening Day roster. He had a fairly weak Spring when there seemingly was a job open for the taking and he’s hitting .265 / .345 / .439 in AAA. His OPS is worse than those of journeymen like Fields and Jermaine Mitchell and of 2B Cesar Hernandez.

No one has mentioned this yet, as far as I know, but actually Fields was changing lockers because he needed more room for his new maternity outfit, and the hugs were because he’d jsu announced his pregnancy to his teammates.

That’s how newsworthy Twitter can be; basically, Twitter is for twits.

I don’t find these stats surprising at all; it’s only further evidence that the team couldn’t hit water whether they fell out of the left or the right side of the boat. Both OPS figures are bad, so any difference doesn’t mean much.

If you’re so worried about hitting lefthaders, maybe they should bring up Cesar Hernandez, too, because Utley isn’t hitting them any better than Howard is.

I fully expect Howard to be on the DL soon. From what I’ve read, he’s got a slight tear of his meniscus, and that’s something that won’t heal without rest or surgery. The irritation might be minor now, but playing could easily make it worse and he’s already had enough pain to put him on the bench for a while..